/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/CXBGWBF3TJGATGA6IXWA4P4HJE.jpg "South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim, 18, wins 2022 Van Cliburn Worldwide Competitors")
FORT WORTH – On the age of 18, South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim on Saturday night time grew to become the youngest gold medalist within the 60-year historical past of the Van Cliburn Worldwide Piano Competitors.
At an award ceremony in Bass Efficiency Corridor, the second prize went to the oldest of the opponents, 31-year-old Russian Anna Geniushene, and the third prize bronze medal to Ukrainian Dmytro Choni, 28.
One of many world’s most seen classical music competitions, Cliburn awards money prizes of $ 100,000, $ 50,000 and $ 25,000 respectively to its three greatest winners. Extra priceless are virtually actually ensures of three years of live performance excursions and profession administration. The choices had been made by a global jury of distinguished live performance pianists with conductor Marin Alsop as chairman.
Along with dwell audiences in Fort Value, the competitors was eagerly adopted by different pianists, academics, conductors and artist managers all over the world through dwell and delayed video streams.
Lim is the second South Korean in a row, after 2017’s Yekwon Sunwoo to win the highest prize. His astonishing virtuoso and mature efficiency of Liszt Transcendental Research within the semifinals, in fact, carried the day, and he additionally took two different prizes. Right here is a large expertise to see.
The geniuses are clearly a strong and substantial musician. Her performances of Brahms’ Op. 10 Rhapsodies and Beethoven’s Op. 33 trifles had been magical.
Choni supplied to play without delay refined and pure, and he’s clearly one other nice expertise to observe.
The ceremony concluded with an 18-day schedule of solo live shows and, with the Fort Value Symphony Orchestra, live performance performances. The final live shows on Saturday, led by Alsop, had pianists from three nations tragically within the information not too long ago: Ukraine (Choni), Russia (Geniuses) and Belarus (Uladzislau Khandohi).
The ceremony on Saturday night time additionally handed out a number of different prizes.
Every of the three finalists who didn’t win a medal – Uladzislau Khandohi from Belarus, Ilya Shmukler from Russia and Clayton Stephenson from the USA – acquired a money prize of $ 10,000. Semifinalists acquired $ 5,000 every, quarterfinals $ 2,500, preliminary spherical opponents $ 1,000. Different prizes price hundreds had been additionally introduced.
Jury Discretionary Awards, $ 4,000 every:
Patricia and Neal Steffen Household Jury Discretionary Award: Andrew Li, 18, USA
Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award: Changyong Shin, 28, South Korea
John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award: Marcel Takokoro, 28, France / Japan
Different costs had been:
$ 5,000 Beverley Taylor Smith Award for Finest Efficiency of a New Work (This 12 months, Competitors Jury Stephen Houghs Fanfare Toccata): Yunchan Lim
$ 5,000 Finest Efficiency of the Mozart Live performance: Ilya Shmukler, 27, Russia
$ 2,500 Carla and Kelly Thompson Viewers Award: Yunchan Lim
Pandemic delay
The usually four-year-old Cliburn was a yr delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The competitors is called after the Texas-educated pianist Van Cliburn, whose victory on the Tchaikovsky Piano Competitors in Moscow in 1958, on the top of the Chilly Battle tensions, threw him to immediate fame. The competitors was launched 4 years later by Fort Value followers by the pianist, who moved to town in 1986 and spoke at award ceremonies earlier than his dying in February 2013.
Screening auditions recognized 30 members aged 18 to 31, representing 15 nations (counting twin nationalities, as two pianists declare). Through the first three rounds, the checklist of opponents was narrowed down to 6 finalists.
There have been some adjustments this yr. Preliminary and quarter-final rounds dedicated to solo live shows weren’t held in Bass Efficiency Corridor, however in Texas Christian College’s stunning new Van Cliburn Live performance Corridor with 717 seats.
Then every of the 12 semi-finalists in Bass Corridor performed a 60-minute solo recital and, together with FWSO and visitor conductor Nicholas McGegan, a Mozart piano concerto. The Mozart live performance performances changed a chamber music spherical that had been an integral a part of Cliburn.
This represented a 3rd live performance forward of the normal two contrasting within the last spherical. Alsop, who additionally served as jury chairman this time, led the finals spherical performances.
Geopolitics overshadows Cliburn
The Russian invasion of Ukraine towered over this yr’s Cliburn.
The Cliburn’s choice to permit the Russians to compete triggered setbacks by some who believed they need to be banned. Each Dublin and Honen’s piano competitions initially determined to ban Russians, and later to reverse the course.
“We’ve talked about offering a platform for younger musicians, irrespective of the place they’re, and we don’t wish to discriminate,” mentioned Jacques Marquis, president and CEO of Cliburn.
“If anybody would have supported battle, we might clearly have to disqualify and ship somebody house. However we nonetheless consider that these younger musicians don’t have anything to do with this.”